Stocks go up and down with no guarantees. This means that calculating the future value of a stock is an anticipated or desired return and not something you can count on explicitly. With stock history and current dividend data, an investor can make an estimation of the expected return from a stock. With the expected return, investor gets an idea of whether the stock's return will be worth the inherent risk of owning it.

1. Go online to stock research sites. Examine a five-year history of the stock in question. Subtract the year-end price per share from the year-starting price per share for each of the years. Average these values by adding them together and dividing by five.

2. Assume your average capital gain for the stock is $4 for a stock currently selling at $30 per share. Create a longer average history if you can, but don't use less than five years.

3. Obtain the dividend data for the stock. Average the annual dividend payments for the same five-year period. Assume the dividends average $2 per year.

4. Write down the formula for expected return: R = (Dividends paid + Capital gains)/price of stock, which will give you an average annual expected return based on historic data.